Dixon: 'Pitt to Big Ten a mistake'

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Pittsburgh men's basketball Coach Jamie Dixon says it would be a mistake for the school to leave the Big East Conference for the Big Ten.

Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse and Notre Dame were other Big East basketball schools prominently mentioned when the issue of Big Ten expansion have come up this month, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Friday.

"We don't have to change because things are heading in the right direction," Dixon told the newspaper, adding the Big East was the "best conference in college basketball history. "Who's really going to improve their position from our conference? Nobody."

On Tuesday, the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors said in a statement the "timing is right for the conference to once again conduct a thorough evaluation of options for conference structure and expansion."

The Big Ten last expanded in football in 1990, adding Penn State.

Notre Dame joined Big East basketball in 2005.